96th Precinct police station
From the second season on, Det. Nicholas Knight worked out of the 96th Precinct police station. From Tracy's directions to Vachon in Black Buddha Pt. 1, this is usually taken to be located at Queen and Spadina. The set for the interior of the police station represents a significant part of the second storey of the building. It includes the front entrance hall, the squad room in the centre of the storey, three offices running along the exterior side of the squad room, and a paired interrogation/observation suite on the interior side of the squad room. The 96th Precinct set is a complex of interrelated rooms through which the actors can be followed by the camera, thus giving a realistic impression of a working environment. General Construction There are windows at the front of the room, in the side offices, and also between these offices and the squad room proper. All are fitted with Venetian blinds. Artificial light is supplied by fluorescent lighting strips running across the ceiling. All the walls seem to be painted a cool grey. (The exact shade seems to vary quite a bit, but this is probably caused by the lighting used for shooting the scene.) Interior Partitions The open areas of the set are divided into work areas by shoulder-height partitions—solid (probably painted plywood) up to about waist height, but with a top panel of frosted glass. Structural Support Pillars The centre portion of the squad room contains four structural support pillars. These are square in section, painted the same grey as the walls, and have wainscoting around the base. Two of the supports are set on the outer side of the room, two on the inner side. One inner support is located a few feet inside the central rear exit. The second is more or less in front of the doors to the interview rooms, and has a "No Smoking" sign posted on it. The corresponding outer support is set near the door to the Captain's Office and the desks used by Nick and his partner. The other outer support is near the side rear exit; and a partition runs between them, delineating a side corridor by the offices. Entrance Area A member of the general public comes into the police station only at the front of the building. Stairwell Beyond a double glass door there is a stairwell that runs down to the main entrance on Queen Street. Although the camera angles used rarely allowed even a glimpse of what lay beyond the doors, there seems to have been a pay phone on the wall of the landing. Front Corridor The entrance corridor has two tall windows, which must look out onto Queen Street, though this cannot be seen through the glass. The corridor runs across the whole front of the room. At the end (which is out of sight in all but one episode), there is a tall wooden cabinet containing trophies. For the first few episodes of Season Two, a bulletin board hung on the wall between the windows; but this was quickly replaced by a reproduction photograph of the Queen, positioned above a smaller frame, which looks as though it might contain a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Further along the wall hangs a framed photograph of the current commanding officer of the 96th Precinct, in dress uniform. (In Season III the position of the two photographs was switched around.) In at least some Season II episodes there is a wooden bench set under one of the windows. There are two flags standing in the front corridor: the Ontario provincial flag near the door, and the Canadian flag at the far end of the windows by the swing gate into the squad room. Front Desk The information desk runs across the front of the squad room, facing the entrance corridor. It has a large number of pigeonholes for sundry forms, and the police blotter open on top. A sergeant mans the desk. To the right of the information desk (from the desk sergeant's perspective) is a bank of filing cabinets, on top of which are monitors for some of the closed-circuit security cameras in the buildings. Four clipboards and some posters hang on the wall. Closing off the gap at the end of the desk is a low swing gate, which provides a formal boundary between the front corridor and the squad room. The barrier is more psychological than physical. Nevertheless, as seen in Hearts of Darkness, the press are not supposed to go into the squad room itself. Waiting Area Visitors to the station are expected to wait by the desk. For this reason, there is a wooden bench just inside the gate. In Black Buddha Pt. 1, it was here that Tracy sat—and nearly dropped off to sleep—while waiting for Captain Reese to tell Nick that he'd be partnering with her. A partial alcove for this bench is formed by a short partition, to which the swing gate is attached. The alcove walls are used for posters, with a large bulletin board positioned just above the bench itself. Squad Room Front Area The front area of the squad room runs back from the front desk alongside the first of the side offices. Just beyond the waiting area is a bank of filing cabinets containing records of past cases and their disposition. A white cupboard is set at the end of the filing cabinets. We've never seen anyone open the door of this cupboard; but it may contain office supplies, or something like that. Just beyond the white cupboard is a short partition that separates the front part of the room from the mid area where Nick and his partner have their desks. There are three pairs of desks in the front section of the squad room: one pair by the filing cabinets, and two pairs of desks behind the reception desk. A space down the middle between these sets of desks provides a corridor for people to walk to the rear of the squad room. This is the route usually taken by Nick and his partner when they are going to their desks from the front of the room. Middle Area The middle area of the squad room runs between the remaining two side offices and the interrogation rooms. It is here that Nick and his partner have their desks. There are two doors on the inner wall, each of which is labelled as leading to an interview room. Initially, only the righthand door opened; and it was possible to see into the room beyond. An "EXIT" sign was placed over the lefthand door; and, if the camera angle was oblique (so that it was impossible to see in), people were sometimes filmed going through it—to head down a corridor that, presumably, had not actually been built and hence could not be shown. Two-thirds of the way through Season Three, the corridor beyond this door was finally built. Thereafter, the door was usually left open. At the end of the new corridor is positioned a security camera with a bright blue light on it. The corridor then doglegs to the right and runs down towards the front of the building, going past the door to the main interview room. The inner wall of the squad room has a short further length of wall running from this corridor along to the corner. This demarcates the rearward bounds of the central portion of the squad room. On this wall there is a large bulletin board, in front of which is the water cooler. A clock is attached high on the wall, sticking out into the room. In the episode Forward into the Past, we are shown it being installed in the 1950s. Rear Corridor Beyond the last pair of desks, a corridor runs across the set from the side rear exit (which leads to a side door to the building), past a central rear exit (which leads to the back door to the building), to a side inner exit (which leads further into the building to another section). Functionally, the inner section of the rear corridor cuts in two an open area that is doglegged off from the squad room at the very rear of the building. This area serves as a sort of reference department for the detectives, and actually lies beyond the rear corridor. To the Inner Exit The section of the rear corridor that runs through the reference area is just around the corner from the water cooler. Hanging on the wall is a large map of Toronto and a cluster of clipboards. In Season Three, a long low wooden cabinet was put in, with wide pigeon holes suitable for large envelopes or file folders. It runs along the wall underneath the map. The corridor ends in a door. For the first few episodes of Season Two, this was kept closed until the corridor beyond it had been built. Since then, the door has usually been kept open, since it is in regular use. Beyond the Inner Exit If you go through this door, you take a hallway that doglegs to take you to another part of the building. The first few feet of this corridor were built early in Season Two; and, after that, this inner exit was regularly used as one of the ways actors would enter the set. In particular, this was the route taken by Nick and his partner when going to interview suspects. The full corridor was built during Season Three. Various bulletin boards decorated the walls, and a double glass door was positioned at the far end. This seems to lead into a separate section of the station, for the walls beyond seem to be a lighter colour. The new extended corridor is the route to the evidence locker, another set that was built midway through Season Three. Central Rear Exit If you go straight up the central corridor of the squad room, you come to the central rear exit. It is set off from the reference area at the very rear of the room by a short partition that creates a de facto corridor down which you walk to reach the door. Early in Season Two, a short stretch of corridor leading left beyond the door was built so that the door could be opened. A coat rack was usually set there, replaced in Season Three by a poster on the wall. Exactly where the corridor goes was never stated; but, comparing the layout of the set with that of the actual building used for exterior views, it seems likely that the corridor turns round on itself, leading to a flight of stairs that go down to an exit about midway along the rear of the building. Nick and his partner are often seen coming in this way wearing their overcoats. Uniformed officers take prisoners in this direction when heading to or from interrogation room; so it seems likely that this is the route to the holding cells in the basement. Rear of Squad Room The rear corridor runs in front of the back wall of the squad room itself, just beyond the last pair of desks. Taking up most of the wall is is a large blackboard, which details the duties and cases of the various detectives attached to the 96th Precinct. Coffee machine Just inside the side rear exit, at the end of the blackboard, is a small table holding a coffee machine. This is popular with the detectives, who often stand there for quite a while chatting together while getting a refill. Although not attached to the detectives' squad, Natalie also seems to be privileged to drink their coffee. Side Rear Exit The door to the side rear exit is usually kept closed, except (obviously) when people are coming in and out. It has a fairly large window, which affords a view of the wall of the staircase beyond. It is reasonable to assume that the door leads to the landing of a staircase which goes down to the side entrance of the police station, debouching at the parking lot at the far end of the building. Certainly Natalie, and Nick and his partner, sometimes come in this way wearing coats. However, this is probably also used as a quick route to the next floor, since many of the people going to and fro are uniformed officers carrying things. Rear Area Beyond the rear cross-running corridor, opposite the big map of Toronto, is the area used for storing reference materials. The walls have various storage cabinets, and there are maps and notices on the walls. These are not always in the same position, though: a large map of the province was originally located beside the door to the inner exit; but, in Season Three, it was shifted to the back wall and replaced by a bulletin board. In Season Two, this area was also the computer centre for the squad room, since most of the detectives did not have computer terminals. Near the central exit was a computer desk that the detectives could use for research. By the third season of the show, all the detectives had got their own computers. The communal computer desk was therefore replaced by a wooden table, with some chairs. This is used for group meetings, especially if there are police personnel involved who are from outside the 96th Precinct. Side Corridor On this outer side of the squad room, there is a corridor cut off from the middle of the room with a series of light partitions. Each partition is set beside a pair of desks, with gaps so that people can readily go in and out of the corridor without having to go the long way round, and access is easy both to and from the offices along the corridor. The side corridor runs from the coffee machine down almost to the front of the squad room. At the end of the corridor, the partition is attached to a short wall, on the other side of which is the front stairwell. On the squad-room side of the stairwell are set the filing cabinets by the front desk. Off the side corridor are the doors to three offices. Front Office Captain's Office Rear Office Interrogation Room Observation Room See also * Holding Cells * Evidence Locker * Locker Rooms Category:Sets